@KaivanShroff Grifters and people with zero values or judgement are about all there currently is in the Dem ecosystem. The party needs to be scrapped entirely for something new, but if we stick with it, we need new blood and lots of it. We need a transfusion.
A day into vacation, with my brain healing from being (mostly) offline, I’ve been meditating on one thought: In many controversies, multiple things can be true at the same time. In the Platner situation, all of these things seem true:
- Platner represents a unique threat to elite power and therefore the elite and its media machine are subjecting him to the kind of scrutiny that the elite do not subject themselves or their political puppets to, in order to try to get him to drop out/lose.
- Some of the accusations being hurled at Platner are uncorroborated and come from politically motivated sources, and others with similar political motivations are trying to amplify the accusations not because they are genuinely morally outraged but because they have political/ideological goals.
- The same political and media class that ignored/buried the Epstein scandal is now pretending to be genuinely mad about the substance of the Platner allegations/revelations — and their pretend outrage is patently ridiculous and inauthentic.
- Some of the corroborated revelations and uncorroborated allegations about Platner are serious and should be taken seriously — and should be weighed against his explanations, contrition and denials.
- Voters being exposed to new revelations/accusations can have legit concerns about them and about Platner, and having those concerns does not make those voters corrupt or dupes.
- Elections are leaps of faith. We don’t know what people will do once in office. We do know that those who control the political system do not like letting anyone near power who didn’t climb the traditional political latter.
- Platner volunteered to risk his life in combat for his country — multiple times. He then volunteered to run for Senate when no other major challenger was willing or able to step up and give Maine voters a serious choice in competitive primary. These decisions reflect a form of character and courage.
- Who is given grace and who is ostracized from politics remains selective. America extended grace to John McCain and allowed him into politics despite his — ahem — quite messy post-combat lifestyle and behavior. The Senate that threw out Al Franken also extended grace to Brett Kavanaugh and confirmed him despite allegations of sexual assault. Voters extended grace to Donald Trump for all of his horrors and elected him president. The fiery debate over whether voters should extend Platner — a combat veteran — grace or ostracize him proves that we still have no collective set of mores about forgiveness.
All of these things are true, and there’s one more thing that’s true: saying these things does not make one a Platner shill, a misogynist, etc. People hurling those insults and insinuations aren’t operating in good faith. They are trying to halt any conversation and shut down the democratic discourse — likely because they are politically motivated.
I am now going to (try to) log back off.
@eatinerni@foodworldzone In no world are wings superior to thighs. Wings have just enough meat on them to piss me off. The juice ain’t worth the squeeze. Where are the genetically engineered 4-legged chickens?!
What if Platner, Rabb and El-Sayed all win and end up in Washington? What will all the Blue MAGA establishment defenders do? Think they’ll get jobs at Palantir or the WEF, working on the Project to Subjugate Humanity?